October 13th

U.S. upholds contiguous Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by David Harris - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell told reporters after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday that Washington supports the creation of a Palestinian state with "contiguous territory." The "contiguous" Palestinian state suggests that Palestinians would be able to travel between any two places of their future state without entering Israel. Analysts believe that Mitchell was reassuring Palestinians over its position of upholding the creation of a Palestinian state. » Read more

Talk to Hamas now or fight new radicals indefinitely ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Nathan Stock - (Opinion) October 9, 2009 - 12:00am History is repeating itself in the Palestinian territories. Washington refuses to engage a right-wing Palestinian group – and so spawns organizations that are even more extreme. It happened in the 1980s, when the US balked at recognizing the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and hesitated to seek a resolution to the Middle East conflict through the creation of a Palestinian state. Those long delays helped propel the rise of the hard-line Islamist party Hamas. » Read more

Israel on Nobel Peace Prize: Hopes for progress ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - October 9, 2009 - 12:00am Top Israeli and Palestinian government officials both had words of praise for President Barack Obama following the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize. The well-wishers included Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. But Obama's efforts to push a comprehensive peace between Israelis and Arabs is still a work in progress, and many in both the Palestinian and Israeli camps have been disappointed as Obama has, so far, fallen short of expectations. » Read more

Defiant Abbas Reiterates Conditions Before Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times by Howard Schneider - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday seemed to distance himself from U.S. efforts to restart peace talks and defended his recent handling of a report on war crimes in the Gaza Strip in a defiant televised address meant to boost his political standing amid growing criticism. » Read more

Netanyahu: Our leaders won't be prosecuted in Hague ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Amnon Meranda - October 12, 2009 - 12:00am The Knesset opened its winter session Monday, amid its members' promise for a stormy winter. The Knesset's factions are set to spend the next several months debating settlement freeze, the forming of a biometric database, a reform in the Israel Land Administration, a controversial budget cut and a referendum bill, to name a few. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dedicated most of his speech to a harsh attack on a United Nations report on the Israeli operation in Gaza, which accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes in Gaza. » Read more

Livni accuses Netanyahu of 'humiliating Palestinians' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Amnon Meranda - October 12, 2009 - 12:00am Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni on Monday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being responsible for the uproar created by the United Nations report into the Israeli operation in Gaza. She hinted that Israel was the one who revealed that the Palestinians had deferred a Human Rights Council vote on the report, because the prime minister "had to boast of his performance." Livni, who spoke during the opening ceremony of the Knesset's winter session, was interrupted several times by Likud Knesset members. » Read more

Students refuse to enlist due to 'occupation' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Daniel Edelson - October 12, 2009 - 12:00am Dozens of students signed this year's high school seniors' letter, which has traditionally attempted to challenge Israel's mandatory army service policy. Similar letters have circulated every few years since 1979, all calling on teens to object to IDF service. » Read more

Israel sees court rulings on Palestinian land as mere 'recommendations' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - October 13, 2009 - 12:00am So what if the Supreme Court rules? In Israel those decisions are just recommendations, especially if they deal with Palestinian land. In most enlightened democratic countries, saying that decisions of the courts obligate the state authorities is like stating that the sun rises in the east. But that may not be so for Israel. » Read more

New negotiations will test Netanyahu's commitment ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) October 13, 2009 - 12:00am Yasser Arafat was enticed to attend a meeting with Ehud Barak at Camp David during the summer of 2000 with the promise that he would not be blamed if it turned out to be a failure. It did, and he was. Last month the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, was invited to attend a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York without any such promise. He was not blamed and the meeting was not a failure. » Read more

The return of 1948 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Shlomo Ben-Ami - (Opinion) October 13, 2009 - 12:00am The United Nations conference commemorating the 60th anniversary of UNRWA (the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) could not come at a better moment. The restitution of lands occupied in 1967 will obviously continue to be indispensable to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it is the legacy of the 1948 war that both parties to the conflict have now put at the centre of the debate. » Read more